A silver arrow through the heart
by MacyBear17
Summary: What would happen if JONAS happened in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians Universe... Demigod JONAS... Nothing gets better :  :
1. Chapter 1

Story Title - **A silver arrow through the heart**

Thoughts on what would happen if JONAS was in the PJO universe

Timeline : Late Season 1 on JONAS...Maybe after Frantic Romantic...when Macy is not so much of an obsessed fan but rather starting to become a good friend of the guys. :) And after the Titan War in PJO...JONAS are good friends with all the demigods from PJO and helped a lot in the titan war.

This story is going to be unashamedly Nacy-centric. It'll also have lots of Percabeth, Thalico, Joella and any other pairing I can think of…

**Chapter 1 – Doubts, Frustrations and Canadians at School**

_**Horace Mantis High Hallway Macy POV**_

"Phew...that was quite something Mace...where did you get that picture of Fiona?" Joe asked me after happily looking at Fiona Skye's rapidly retreating figure

"Well...it helps when you have connections by virtue of being the President of the Number 1 JONAS fan club and an active blogger with photo credits in a major magazine..." I replied while giving Fiona's photographer and recently turned JONAS fan a high five.

"Well guys...as awesome as sending Fiona to the hills was...where we're pretty sure she lives by the way...we all have classes to get to...and i also have a pep rally to plan...so...as they say in Mexico...gotta go..." said Kevin before sprinting away leaving everyone with varying degrees of weird looks on their faces. (After a few long seconds of silence...)

"Right...as Kevin said...we all have classes to get...Oh Zeus!...look at the time... I am already late...come on Macy...Mr. Halfer will have our heads if we get to History even one second late..." yelled Stella and proceeded to drag me down the hallway towards our Ancient History class

I turned and stammered out a 'ss..se..see you later guys' to Nick and Joe before Stella was able to drag me out of their earshot...God!...why is that still happening to me?...I mean i am almost over my crazy obsession about JONAS but I still act like a crazy obsessed fan-girl whenever Nick is around.. The one person who i really want to act normal around...I swear my brain just shuts down every time he's around... Aarrgghh!...this is so frustrating!

Meanwhile something Stella said struck me as odd and i turned to her and asked " Stella...Did you jus say 'Oh Zeus!'?..." She suddenly stumbled as her footsteps faltered and she turned pale for a second before regaining her balance and poise.

"Did I?...Must've been a slip of my tongue...Why...Why would i say that!...It's jus ridiculous...Oh look!...we're here..." she managed to stammer out while nervously looking up at the ceiling of the hallway before heading inside the classroom as quickly as she could.

Today it was Ancient Greek History and we were studying about some of the heroes and all the monsters that they faced...Stella was quite uncomfortable throughout the class and kept wincing whenever our teacher named some monster or the other and kept looking around as if she expected someone or something to jump out at her and attack. I quickly wrote a note and passed it to her 'Stells...is everything alright?... You look like you're coming down with something...'

After reading the note, she turned and shook her head slightly and gave me a watery smile signifying that nothing was wrong and she was ok... I knew she was lying and decided not to press further until lunch which was after this class...But before I could ask her anything Stella ran out of the class as soon as the bell rang. Slightly hurt and quite frustrated at being kept in the dark about something by my best friend, I walked out to the cafeteria to find Stella deep in some argument with the guys at our table. They were quite involved in the discussion whatever it was about and I was able to hear some of it before they realized that i was nearby

"Guys...I am not sure but i think i saw a couple of Laistrygonians outside the school today... I thought I also saw them casing out the building during Ancient History class...I am really worried guys... I don't want you in any sort of danger..."

"Cool it Stella... we don't even know whether they're here because of us… They could be here just by chance searching for some Half-bloods...ok?...anyways...You'd think we can handle a couple of Laistrygonians by ourselves now… what with the war 'n all ...don't worry unnecessarily..."

"But Joe...they're..."

Suddenly Nick looked up, saw me approaching the table and quickly changed the subject to the band's upcoming performance and started discussing the setlist with Kevin and Joe. Quickly catching on to the change of subject, all of them acted as if they had been talking about that the whole time... But I knew that they had been talking about something else entirely and had changed the subject as soon as they knew i was nearby...

Thinking back, I found that I could remember a lot of instances when that had happened... the four of them would be talking or arguing about something and the subject would suddenly change to something else whenever they found out that i or somebody else was nearby... I had never really paid attention to it when i was in my crazy fan-girl stage but now that i was passing that, i began to notice a lot of things and it started to bother me...It felt like my best friends were keeping something from me and that that something was some fairly big thing that they wanted to keep a secret. While it hurt a bit, I guess it was probably none of my business and if it was something i needed to know they would tell me... I just shrugged and proceeded to eat my sloppy joe while listening to the guys argue about a set list that i knew had already been finalized the day before.

End of Chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2

A/N : Sorry for the short chapter... Will try n write longer ones later.. :) reviews are love 3

**Chapter 2 – Swordfights and Crazy fans**

_**Later After School Macy POV**_

"Bye Stells...gotta go...it's Wednesday...have to take care of the shop today... I'll call you later about the homework in Biology ok? " I said flipping down my phone and ending the call to Stella.

My mom owns an antique and curio shop two streets down from the JONAS firehouse called Misa's Pieces... We also live in the house right next to it so that we can keep an eye on the shop 24 hrs a day... It's just me and my mom now since my dad passed away two years ago, fighting in Iraq... So I helped out mom by taking care of the shop on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for about 3 or 4 hrs after school and had all team practices scheduled for the other days of the week...Oh yeah!...I haven't told you about that right?...I am somewhat a sports star in school...you see I captain the girls' softball and volleyball teams at school and also am part of the football, swim, golf and track teams... there aren't many sports i don't play... I just happen to love the feeling of being outdoors, involved in a physical activity and also kicking other teams' butts at everything isn't all that unpleasant. :)

As I was thinking through all this and walking down the hallway, I accidentally saw something out the window...Now I must tell you this, the hallway i was walking down is at the back of the school building, facing the inner courtyard and at this time of the day, it is almost always deserted. Kids usually hate hanging around at school after the day is out and leave as soon as they can. So it was quite unusual for anybody to be there at the courtyard at this point of time and i guess that's what caught my eye... Or maybe the fact that one of the two people in the yard was a certain JONAS... The other one, a huge and heavily muscled guy, was hulking menacingly close to Nick, who was looking like he was concentrating quite hard at not making any sudden movements... It started to look like the huge guy was threatening Nick and I looked around to see if there was anybody else around who was seeing this and could help Nick out.. I would've probably spent four or five seconds taking my eyes off the two figures in the courtyard and looking around but when i looked back, I only saw Nick and he was holding something long and shiny in his hands... almost like he was holding a sword or something... but that had to be the most ridiculous thing i have ever thought...right?... Whatever it was seemed to glow with a light of its own...just a soft glow... but it was definitely there... And before I could even gather my scattered thoughts together, Nick walked back towards the school building and started to leave. I ran down the steps of the school, making it seem like i had already left before him, in case he caught up with me.

"Hey Macy...wait up!..."

I turned, trying to act surprised at seeing him there...

"Nick!...What are you doing here?...I thought you guys would've left a long time ago...Stella left almost 20 minutes back "

"Yeah...I know...I had a song to finish up and i needed some space...So i thought i'd sit in the school music room and finish it... "

"Oh cool... So did you get it done?... "

"Not really...but its coming along pretty good... You'll be the first one to hear it when it gets done... " he said, flashing his half smile that always made me want to melt into a puddle of Macy-goo at his feet...

"Wow...Thanks... Its a great honor to be the first one to hear a new song of JONAS!.." i replied, injecting jus the right amount of enthusiasm for him to think that i had gone back to my crazy-fan mode... I needed time to think about what i had seen at school and i couldn't get my brain to work with Nick Lucas around.

Nick stiffened slightly as he caught the change in my voice and excused himself as quickly as possible, his feet already starting to walk in the opposite direction... I knew that Nick got really uncomfortable around fan-Macy and I knew that he would beat a hasty retreat if he felt the fan side of me coming forth even a little bit... A part of me was reluctant to make him go away just when he was starting to act friendly around me but the other part was bent upon sorting my thoughts out and that couldn't be done with the distracting presence of Nick Lucas of JONAS around…

_**At the JONAS Firehouse NPOV**_

"Hey mom…Where's everybody? " asked Nick, entering the house

"Hey sweetie…. How was school today? Joe and Kevin are at the gym in the basement… Frankie and your dad went to the park… You want anything to eat? "

"No thanks mom… I know you're making fried chicken for dinner along with your famous potato salad… So I don't wanna spoil my appetite… I'll just put my stuff upstairs and go train with the guys for a while.."

"Okay Nick.. Be careful"

End of Chapter 2


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N : Hey folks! Here's chapter 3 (cue fanfare and streamers... Taking a bow... thank you... thank you...) hope you like it... Oh and reviews are always welcome... plz read and review and make my day.. :)**

without further ado... I present to you...

**Chapter 3 – The sons of Apollo and the daughter of Aphrodite**

_**Firehouse Basement NPOV **_

Nick entered the basement of the firehouse to dull thuds and various ripping and cutting sounds echoing through the huge gym and training center. Joe was in one corner practicing swordplay with a dummy. He was being his usual cocky, overconfident self, slashing and thrusting at the dummy with taunts and weird sounds as if emulating a sword fight with a real opponent instead of a straw and wood dummy.

Nick turned, shaking his head in slight amusement at the antics of his middle brother to find his oldest brother involved in archery practice. Not that any of them needed that, seeing that archery was their biggest strength…All of Kevin's arrows were hitting the center of his target and some of them had even split open some previous arrows that had hit the target and Kevin looked like he was shooting the arrows while taking a nap…. There was no surprise in that with them being the sons of Apollo. Oh Yeah…. Kevin, Joe and Nick were demigods, sons of Apollo to be exact. Unlike what everybody else thought, neither were Kevin, Joe and Nick of different ages nor were they the sons of Tom and Sandy Lucas. The three older Lucas brothers were actually triplet sons of Faye Smith and Apollo, Faye being Sandy's older sister. After Faye had died in a monster attack when the boys were only a few months old, Tom and Sandy Lucas had decided to take care of them as their own sons, fully aware of the responsibilities they had as demigods.

Even though most of their demigod friends told them that they saw their father as a wacky haiku spouting, sports car driving god, the Lucas brothers had only seen Apollo a couple of times in their life. Each time they had seen him, he had been quite serious, choosing to appear in his older godly form and had supported them in all the major decisions that they had taken in their lives. It was in fact Apollo who had encouraged them to take the major step of going pro with their music. He had also warned them of all the difficulties that they might face in their endeavor as they were three powerful demigods and they would attract a lot of monsters. In the beginning the brothers had taken this as an opportunity to prove themselves to their godly parent and had gone out of their way to turn monsters to dust. But after getting into too many sticky situations where keeping their identities safe as well as keeping their lives intact had become a serious issue, they had refrained from attracting too much attention. The monsters hadn't left them alone, but the brothers had learnt new ways of controlling the Mist and had taken to being circumspect in their dealings with non-mortal beings. Keeping their family safe from anything that threatened their peace had been first priority for a long time now.

At their 14th birthday, Apollo had given them each a silver ring that could turn into a beautiful silver shod bow with a quiver full of arrows magically appearing on their backs when they needed them. The quivers would also never become empty and the bow and arrows would disappear whenever not in need. When the mortal media questioned them about the appearance of the rings, the boys had given them the story about the rings being purity rings and the media had just lapped the story up, calling it idealistic, romantic and what not. The image had stuck and had also helped them quite a lot when letting some of their more persistent fan girls down softly. But it also meant that they had that many more girl fans nowadays and it made their life that much more difficult to keep private. The only people they could be themselves around were their parents, their younger brother, their demigod friends from camp and Stella.

Stella had been their friend and neighbor since they were all babies in diapers and she had helped them in everything they had done in life. It also helped that Stella was a daughter of Aphrodite and was born with a seriously overdeveloped sense of fashion and what looked good. She had been a major help in building up their media image and had kept them from becoming has-beens by keeping their image fresh for their fans every time the boys did a concert or tour. But Stella's biggest strength was that like all children of Aphrodite, she was a master at manipulating the Mist and casting glamour spells on mortals and non-mortals alike. Any mortal who encountered Stella would only see a beautiful, blonde blue-eyed fashionista but she could with just a snap of her fingers change anybody's opinions and feelings about any subject on earth. It was almost scary watching her at work when she became like that… all intense and focused. It almost felt as if she was making clothes and accessories out of thin air. Kevin, Joe and Nick had often wondered if it was one of the powers of a child of Aphrodite but never had the courage to ask her that.

Stella and Joe had had feelings for each other ever since they both had known the concept of love but they were still dancing around their feelings, trying to deny its very existence to people around them even though it was as obvious as the nose on one's face that they were made for each other. Whenever any of us asked either Joe or Stella, the most serious answer we could get out of them was that they didn't want to jeopardize the friendship that they had for a relationship that they weren't even sure would work.

Stella and her dad, who was a cordon-bleu chef at a New York restaurant had always been around the Lucas family and were treated like family members themselves. It was not only Mr. Malone's handsome looks that Aphrodite had fallen for when he was younger, but mainly, it was Mr. Malone's talent at making culinary masterpieces that had won over the heart of the goddess of love. Jake Malone was completely supportive of the friendship between his daughter and the Lucas brothers because he knew that growing up as a demigod alone would be much more difficult than if one had some friends who would look out for you. The fact that both Stella and the brothers had saved each other's lives many times only served to cement this thought that both sets of parents had. Tom and Sandy Lucas almost considered Stella as their daughter and had lately started giving Joe hints that they would love to have Stella as their daughter for real.

End of Chapter 3


	4. Chapter 4

A/N : First off, I'd like to thank all the people who read my stories... special thanks to all who favorite-d, reviewed or put an alert on my stories...

Secondly, Sorry for not updating for quite some time... Will try and update sooner from now on... Some more one-shots in the works... Will try and upload them soon

Last but not least... Plz plz plz review and make my day... :) ... Your thoughts and reviews can make me float on air for like a whole week :) plus, lots n lotsa virtual chocolatey-chip goodness waiting for those nice enough to press that small blue button at the end... :)

Without further ado, I present to you...

**Chapter 4 – History, Macy and learning to use Fireblade**

_**NPOV**_

Both families had been living in Dallas, Texas when the children had been younger. But as the demigods grew older and the threats they faced became bigger and bigger, the families decided to move closer to camp and Mt. Olympus and had moved to New Jersey the year before. Till then both Stella and the Lucas brothers had been home schooled and had never been to a public school before. On the first day of School, all four of the demigods had found it very difficult to fit in… Not only were they different from the others by virtue of being half-bloods, they had also never been to a school before and didn't understand most of the de-facto rules followed by students. That was where Macy Misa had come in.

She had befriended Stella on the first day itself, helping her with classes, forms and finding her locker. Proud that she had found a normal friend and wanting to introduce her to her other best friends, Stella had excitedly introduced Macy to the Lucas brothers at lunch. The result had been a disaster to say the least. Stella had barely opened her mouth to start her introductions when Macy had taken one look at them, given a high pitched squeal and fallen in a dead faint at their feet. Turned out Macy was none other than extreme JONAS fan and the President of the No 1 JONAS fan club in the world. After that things went further and further downhill with Macy being so nervous or excited around the guys that she either passed out repeatedly or injured them accidentally with some or the other sports equipment she always seemed to have around.

Over time, Macy came to understand the boys better and had started to control her fan girl impulses. Kevin and Joe had taken the initiative to get to know Macy better and things between Macy, Kevin and Joe were very much normal now but she was still quite nervous around Nick, who did nothing to ease her nervousness. She didn't hurt any of them even accidentally nowadays but she still stammered or started to hyperventilate whenever Nick was involved. Everyone who was around Macy even for a few minutes could figure out that she had a huge crush on Nick but the youngest JONAS member steadily refused to acknowledge the fact. Macy was too nervous and much too shy to approach Nick for fear of rejection and Nick's brothers knew him well enough to refrain from trying to get him to listen to them about Macy's feelings. They also didn't want to anger their little brother as he was the one who wrote most of their songs and he could be quite stubborn when he wanted….. Meaning, if Nick was angry with them about something, no more new songs until he forgave them or they groveled. They knew he wouldn't give in even if his dad got involved in it…It had already happened quite a few times and now their dad knew better than getting involved and just asked them to apologize already…. Everyone knew that Nick rarely got angry and usually had a very good reason when he did.

_**Back at the Training Center, Firehouse NPOV**_

Nick turned to Joe, pulling on one of the dog-tags he was wearing… It slipped out into his hands and quickly turned into a three foot long shining sword with an intricately carved hilt made of celestial bronze. Even though he was a son of Apollo and could shoot an arrow through a napkin ring a mile away, he loved fighting with his sword more than using his bow and arrows. His sword, Fireblade had been a gift from the Oracle of Delphi and his father given when Nick had succeeded in saving the Oracle's life during a monster attack. Rachel, the new Oracle, had been in New York to visit her family and had run into some monsters on her way back to camp… As it had happened near their house, Nick had been on hand to help her. Pleased with his bravery, she had asked Apollo to award him a new weapon and Fireblade had been his since then.

Nick had been extremely enthusiastic about learning to fight with his new sword so he had approached Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, the best sword fighters at camp and heroes from the recent Titan war, to teach him. Both Percy and Annabeth had been delighted to teach but had warned him that it was going to be very difficult and quite arduous. Nick hadn't been ready to take no for an answer and they had started training… After a couple of weeks of bone breaking, muscle tearing practice and lots of injuries, cuts, stabs and slashes, both Percy and Annabeth had been astonished at the pace at which Nick had mastered the art of swordplay. Nick wasn't as good as Percy or Annabeth but was much better than anybody else at camp…even Clarisse.

The brothers didn't get many chances to take part in camp activities but the last capture the flag event would be etched forever in Nick's mind because he had been on the blue team with his half-brothers and sisters along with the Athena cabin, Percy and Nico opposite all the other cabins. During the race to get the red team's flag, Nick had found himself alone up against Clarisse and her electric spear. Using some of the moves Percy had taught him just that day, Nick managed to neatly capture the spear between his shield and sword and snap it in half, just like Percy had done in his first year at camp. Clarisse had been so mad at him that she had literally been smoking with fury and probably would've killed him with a glare if Percy and Annabeth had not chosen that precise moment to run across the creek with the red team flag firmly clutched in their hands. As it was, Clarisse had made dire threats that still made him shake in his shoes sometimes, but from that day on, Nick and his brothers had become firm friends with a lot of the demigods at camp… Something they had not been able to achieve before due to the fact that they didn't live in camp even for the summer and that they were now world famous rock stars. Once the kids at camp came to know that they weren't some stuck up snobs like some other famous demigods, they had come to accept the brothers and made good friends.

Now, as Nick grasped his sword in his hands and advanced toward his brother, Joe turned to him and groaned… Both Kevin and Joe hated fighting with Nick because he was much better at swordplay than either of them could ever hope to be and also, he took every fight seriously and never spared them, which led to a lot of cuts and bruises on their part.

"Do I have to?... We know what is gonna happen here…. I am going to end up on the mat with your sword poking into some part of my body.. So why don't we save you the trouble and get to that part already?... I'll jus lie down on the mat and you can point your sword at me and we'll call it a day…k? "

"Come on Joe… We all need to train… And I need some serious work on my sword skills.. I am getting totally rusty without practice… Oh btw… I took care of one of the Laistrygonians after school today… he thought he was cornering me but the second his concentration wavered he was dust… And we need to talk to Chiron.. The monsters are starting to roam freely again… We need to make sure nothing serious is brewing… come on bro… put your guard up and try to give me a decent fight this time…"

After exchanging a flurry of thrusts, parries and blows, as always, the fight ended with Joe on the mat, his sword skittering away from his hands and Nick standing over him with his gleaming sword point held at Joe's throat. Nick leaned down and giving his brother a hand, lifted him up to standing position. They both woke Kevin from one of his spontaneous naps and all of them went up to the house to wash up before dinner.

"I Think I'll go for a run after dinner… Didn't get much training in today…" said Nick as Kevin and Joe trudged up the stairs with him.

End of Chapter 4


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N : Hey guys... I am back with the next chapter of this story... enjoy and review... thanks again to all of you who read, reviewed or favorit-ed my stories... Keep up the good work guys :)**_

_**p.s. can anyone enlighten me on how stories get onto particular communities?... I'd be grateful if someone could explain... **_

**Chapter 5 – Macy, Monsters and the Truth **

_**Later that night at Macy's house NPOV**_

Macy lay in bed after giving up on the idea of finishing her homework. She was usually a good student and liked to finish most of her schoolwork on that day itself…but tonight concentration was proving to be an almost impossible task and Macy had had enough of pretending to do her homework. She lay face-down on her bed, thinking about what she thought she had seen at school today. It had to have a proper sensible explanation. All things did… It couldn't have been a sword she had seen in Nick's hand… It could've easily been a long stick…or a ….a.. oh!... who was she trying to kid…. She had seen a sword in Nick's hands today, a three foot long gleaming sword, golden in color… She had particularly noticed that because she had always thought that all swords were silver in color. That obscure thought still didn't help her figure out why Nick had had a sword in his hands or what he was doing with it in school… Or why he didn't seem to be having it when he met her outside the school a few minutes later.. And mainly, Why he had lied to her about having to finish a song… Okay she got that one… I mean it's not like you can just tell somebody that you were sword fighting in the school yard with a guy who didn't go to your school and that's why you had to stay late…. And who was that huge guy and where had he disappeared in such a short time?...

All these questions were running round and round in her brain and Macy started to feel as if she was going crazy. There was no one she could talk to about this… Come on…Anybody she talked to would think she was a nutcase and would spare no time in calling the nearest mental health facility… She couldn't even tell Stella about what she had seen….Man!... Life was so frustrating sometimes… She made a decision and getting up from the bed, she rooted around at the bottom of her closet till she found a pair of running shorts and her shoes. She changed and laced up her shoes, ran down the stairs and yelling to her mother that she was going on a run, she left the house at a steady, fast pace. Without her knowledge, her feet turned in the direction of the firehouse and as she passed it, she saw that the lights were still on at the first floor indicating that the boys were still awake. She slowed down, debating whether or not to drop in on them… Then deciding that she would only embarrass herself in front of Nick again, she sped up again, passing the Lucas home and turning onto the street across from it.

The steady sounds of her shoes hitting the pavement gave Macy some sort of peace…Like she didn't have to go back and finish her homework or think about what she had seen at school today… She could forget about everything and just keep running till she could run no more… and from experience, Macy knew that that would take a long time as she was a seasoned long distance runner… Macy kept running not particularly caring where she was going, just trying to keep her thoughts from over-crowding her mind again and she realized that she had run up her school grounds. Deciding to turn back, Macy stopped for a bit to stand at the edge of the athletics field and enjoy the soft warm breeze of early autumn…. The last bit of warmth before cold winter set in and the place would get blanketed in snow.. Macy loved the warmth of summer… Spring was her favorite season but summer and autumn ran a close second with the cold winter coming up a distant third. Winter was quite fun.. no doubt what with Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year happening… but spring, with its new leaves, flowers, birds and the onset of warmth was a hundred times better in Macy's opinion.

As Macy prepared to run back home, she thought she saw someone on the other side of the field and stopped to look. No one was supposed to be there at this time of the night but she figured that it might be some other student who had come out for a run and was going back home just like her. But as she looked, she saw that this was another huge guy, much like the one she had seen in school with Nick today (which meant she had not dreamt that episode and she wasn't going crazy ) and he was busy muttering to himself and looking down at the ground as if he was searching for something. It occurred to her that this was the place where she had seen Nick and the other guy after school today so she figured that maybe this was the same guy and he had come back to find something that he had lost that afternoon. Even as she was thinking that, the big guy roared in frustration and anger and with just one hand, ripped off a metal seat bolted to the ground and flung it into the field. Macy froze in disbelief as the man seemed to grow bigger and more muscular right before her eyes. He started sniffing around the area, as if trying to smell something…A small voice at the back of her head told her that he was trying to pick up a scent…not that she believed it….But then he roared again, louder this time…. As if he had found what he was looking for and turned off in the direction that Nick had gone in after meeting her at school.

Macy unfroze as the thought entered her head that he might be following Nick's scent to find him…though she didn't know why… Making a sudden decision, Macy ran off behind the man, taking all the shortcuts she knew, putting every ounce of energy she had into running to the firehouse before the man got there… She herself wasn't sure why she was doing this but the huge man had given her a very bad feeling and the flinging of the bench in the air and the roaring didn't help quite settle her feelings about him. Quickly sprinting through back alleys and taking short cuts through people's backyards, Macy ran into the street which housed both the JONAS firehouse as well as her house. Taking out her phone, she quickly dialed Nick's number, praying that he would pick up soon… On the second ring, Nick picked up thank god!

"Hey Macy what's up?... Why do you sound like you're panting for breath? "

"Nick… don't worry about me… where are you? And why do you sound like you're running? "

"Well… that's because I am running genius… I went out for a run cuz I needed the exercise.."

"Damn it Nick.. where are you? "

"Just around the corner from the firehouse….what's wrong Macy?... you sound disturbed… "

Macy turned around and heaved a sigh of relief as she spotted Nick running up towards her. Her relief quickly turned to terror as she spotted the huge guy on Nick's tail…just a street's length away.

"Nick!...Behind you… It's that guy from school today…. Be careful!. "

Nick turned and stopped where he was… Macy expected him to start running toward her at full tilt but Nick had an odd mixture of resignation and quiet determination in his face as he pulled on one of his dog-tags and stood in a braced stance to face the man running towards him. Macy couldn't see what happened but she suddenly saw the long, gleaming sword in Nick's hands and a few minutes of roaring from the monster's side and lots of slashing and dodging from Nick's side later, Nick's sword slashed down in a deadly arc and the huge guy disappeared into a pile of dust… Since the wind was blowing in the opposite direction, most of the dust flew in Macy's direction and got on her clothes, her face and her eyes…

"Ow…owowow…..that stings….Ouch…"

Nick turned at the sound of her pained cries and looked at her as if he suddenly remembered that she was there. For a second she saw panic flit through his eyes before he carefully blanked them of any emotion. It was as if he had come to a decision about something as he nodded to himself and walked up to her.

"So sorry Mace…Come on…I'll take you home and you can clean up…."

"Stop right there Mr. I-slay-people-with-my-sword-everyday…I am not going anywhere until I get some answers…Who was that?... why was he following you?...More importantly.. What are you doing with a sword?... Did you just kill that guy?... If you did where is his body?... Why is there no blood on your sword? …. What was that dust? …and….Wh… Oh my god!... You're hurt….Your arm's cut up and bleeding pretty badly… We need to get you to a hospital…Come on…"

Nick looked as if he would pay all the money in the world to be anywhere but in this situation. She could see that he was growing more and more irritated as the questions flew out of her mouth in rapid succession but for the life of her she couldn't stop… It was like a dam had broken open and she needed to get them out while she still could. Nick visibly tried to relax and regain his composure as Macy rattled off questions at the speed of light…Questions he knew he couldn't… Shouldn't answer. After breathing deeply a few times, he took hold of Macy's arm and started to not-so-gently pull her towards the firehouse.

"Relax Macy… It's alright…. I'll take you home, we'll clean up and then we'll think about answering all those questions ok?... Now I just need to make this call before we get there…" Nick said in a tone as if he was speaking to a mentally retarded 4 year-old.

Nick pulled his phone out, blanking out the sputtering Macy who was close to getting angry now because of his high-handedness and dialed Stella's number. When she picked up on the fourth ring, he identified himself and asked her to be at the firehouse as soon as possible before hanging up without giving any explanations. Putting his phone back in his pocket, Nick proceeded to drag a now protesting Macy around the corner to the firehouse. When he opened the door and entered with Macy in tow, it was to find both his brothers plus Stella assembled in the living room anxiously looking at the door, waiting for him to come home. He had scarcely stepped foot into the house when the barrage started

"What's wrong Nick? Something happened didn't it?... I told you guys to be careful… It was that Laistrygonian right? … I told you… I warned you… " Stella was almost hyperventilating

"You okay bro?... Your arm seems to be bleeding… I'll go get you some ambrosia.. " Kevin walked off to the kitchen with that.

Joe seemed to be the only one noticing that Nick was dragging a dust-layered Macy behind him and he looked from Nick to Macy and back to Nick before nodding his head at Macy and glancing questioningly at Nick. Nick sighed and shook his head, silently telling Joe and Stella that he would talk to them later.

"Stella… Could you take Macy upstairs and show her the bathroom… Could you also loan her some of your clothes for now?... "

Stella was clearly curious but refrained from asking anything now and simply nodded and smiled encouragingly at Macy while gently pulling her towards the stairs. A bewildered Macy went through the motions of cleaning and changing quickly and before she knew it, she was sitting on the couch in the living room of the Lucas firehouse surrounded by the brothers and Stella. While Macy had been in the bathroom, Nick had quickly explained what had happened to his brothers and Stella and also told them of the plan he had. They had reacted to it with varying degrees of reluctance but after some convincing on his part, they had agreed that it was the only way they could get out of this with their identities intact. Nick had planned to find out from Macy exactly what she thought she had seen and then have Stella manipulate the Mist and make Macy believe as if she had slept and dreamt all of that. Stella had been the most vehement of the lot against putting a spell on Macy, but after citing the consequences of Macy knowing and the risks of their secrets getting out, Stella had reluctantly given in. Kevin and Joe also felt bad about manipulating their friend but had agreed with Nick because of the risk it would place their whole family under.

Stella handed Macy a cup of hot chocolate with mini-marshmallows floating on top as she sat down on the couch. Thanking Stella awkwardly, Macy turned to Nick who was chewing on an ambrosia square that Kevin had brought him. Macy's eyes widened as she saw the cut on his arm start to heal as Kevin rubbed something like honey over it (nectar) and hummed something that sounded very much like 'keep it real'. (It was actually a hymn to Apollo to help heal the wound… She would find that later…)

"Okay…now that I have done everything you said, I would like some answers….now…"

"Alright…. Ask whatever you want to ask and we'll try and answer everything as well as we can.."

Macy appeared stumped for questions now that she had been given permission to ask whatever she wanted. She took a couple of moments to gather her thoughts and taking a breath, started

"Let's start with the most obvious thing… the sword… Was that really a sword you had in your hands a few minutes ago?..."

"Yeah… that was Fireblade… It's Nick's gift from our Dad and the Oracle" piped up Kevin before Nick had a chance to answer

"Y…Your dad… Mr. Lucas gave you a sword?... Why would he do that and who's the Oracle?... Where are your Mom and Dad by the way… and Frankie?"

"Well…answering them one at a time, Mom and Dad are out to dinner… Frankie is in bed asleep… Yes, our dad gave me the sword… Not Tom Lucas… He gave me the sword because I saved the life of Rachel the Oracle some months ago and the Oracle we are talking about is the Oracle of Delphi… The seer of Apollo… Who is our dad… incidentally…"

Macy's brain went into overload as she tried to make sense of all the information she was getting… and tried to pick out the least earth-shattering point of the lot

"Wait...wait…wait…. Go back… Tom Lucas is not your dad?..." Macy squeaked

"No…. Tom and Sandy are actually our uncle and aunt… Our mom was Sandy's sister Faye… and our dad is Apollo… as in the Greek god"

"As in…The sun god Apollo?"

"Yeah… Macy…..Macy!...Oh man…" Joe whined as Macy did something she hadn't done around the boys for a long, long time now. She slid down the couch to the carpet in a dead faint. Nick sighed and picked her up, placing her in a lying position on the couch.

"Come on… that's all we can do for now… We're gonna have to wait till she wakes up again and then proceed… I don't think we need to find out what she knows…when she wakes up, Stella can just manipulate the Mist and we can make her believe she came here during her jog and slept off on the couch. I am gonna go take a shower and change guys…See ya later"

With that, Nick went up the stairs leaving a worried Kevin and Joe and a sad Stella staring at the unconscious face of their friend.

End of Chapter 5

_**A/N : hope you enjoyed reading this chapter... More chapters in the works and will be uploaded soon... Review if you can.. you'll make my day... :) there's another NACY centric story i've uploaded... try and read that too...**_

_**lotsa luv**_

_**Macy Bear**_


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N : Hey guys... I am back with the next chapter in the series... hope you like it... Whether you like it or not, plz review with your thoughts... truckloads of virtual cookies being sent to all people who reviewed or commented... thanks a lot guys..._

**Chapter 6 – Through the Mist and To the Styx**

_**Later NPOV**_

When Nick got back from his leisurely shower clad in a pair of plaid pajamas and a gray t-shirt, it was to find his brothers and Stella chatting animatedly with a seemingly fully recovered Macy. His mood rapidly went down the drain when he realized that Macy was still asking about Apollo and seemed completely enchanted by the fact that Stella was a daughter of Aphrodite… She was giggling at something Kevin said and she turned to Joe and asked him if she could see his bow. Immediately, Joe tapped his purity ring and it turned into a full-sized, silver shod elegant bow with a silver quiver hanging over his shoulder. Macy gasped with admiration at the beautiful bow and started laughing when, in his eagerness to show it off to her, Joe bonked Kevin on the head with the top edge of the bow. This resulted in a full scale shouting match between Kevin and Joe with Stella and Macy giggling loudly on the side, enjoying it rather than getting the boys to stop. Nick shook his head, irritated with their antics and stalked out to them. Tapping on Joe's bow again to turn it into his ring, Nick gave both his brothers a slap upside of their heads and dragged them away to the kitchen, calling for Stella to come and help him. Stella smiled awkwardly at Macy, muttered an excuse and sprinted into the kitchen.

"What are you guys doing?... And Stella why does she still know about demigod stuff? " Nick demanded furiously

"Hey man… Lighten up… We were just answering some of Macy's questions…Now that she's past her fainting episode, she seems to be taking it very well… She hasn't screamed, fainted or hyperventilated once… I am thinking…"

"Stop right there Joe… Are you sure you wanna say what I think you are going to say?..."

He looked at his brothers and friend to see the excited and slightly expectant expression on their faces…

"Oh no….no…no…and NO… I can't believe this… you want to _leave_ her like this?... You don't care if she goes out and tells somebody… or releases it to the press or tells some guy who turns out to be the monster of the millennium….right?"

"Come on Nick… She's our friend… She's not going to do anything like that… She'll keep it a secret and even help us out when necessary… Believe me… She won't tell anybody… You have my word…. Besides, I just figured it out… My magic wouldn't work on her…."

"WHAT?...What the _heck_ are you saying?"

Out from the living room came Macy's slightly amused voice

"If you don't want me to hear what you guys are talking about you _have_ to stop shouting Nick…"

Kevin, Joe and Stella barely stifled their giggles in the face of Nick's glare.

Nick resignedly pulled the other three out into the living room where Macy had gotten comfortable in the corner of the couch and was contentedly sipping the chocolate while gazing into the distance. They all sat down with Macy and Nick turned to Stella once again

"What do you mean that your magic won't work on her?"

"Well…. We should've noticed it before… Didn't you notice that she was able to see Fireblade and the Laistrygonian clearly?... Normal mortals wouldn't have been able to do that…"

Kevin interrupted her excitedly saying "Are you saying that Macy's half-blood too? Oh gods Macy… this is so exciting!... We're gonna have so much fun!... You'll get to see camp…. Make lots of friends and train… We'll find who your godly parent is and you can meet him or her too…."

"Pipe down Kevin…. Macy is not a demigod… I don't think that's what Stella is saying here… are you?"

Nick continued when Stella shook her head no

"So… you're saying that Macy has true sight?... That she's one of the few mortals that can see through the Mist?"

"Yeah… Seems like it… She told me some stuff while you were in the shower… It seems like she has been able to see monsters and other uglies ever since she was small… She just never told anyone because the first couple of times she tried telling her parents when she was younger got her into major trouble for lying…"

"Hey… Will you guys stop talking about me as if I am not here?" came an annoyed voice from the couch

"Sorry…. But in our defense Macy-bear you weren't quite here…you were off in dreamland…" quipped Kevin while grinning at her, making Macy blush slightly and stick her tongue out at him.

Nick frowned and resigned himself to this fate and prayed silently to all the gods that Macy would be sensible enough to understand the repercussions of even accidentally letting this piece of information slip out… Not only would every monster ever written about come around looking for a piece of them, they would also become laughing-stocks in the mortal world. He was about to get up and leave when a soft, small hand tugging on his arm stopped him. Turning, he saw Macy lean towards him with a small smile on her face

"It's okay Nick…. I will never let you guys down… You can believe in me… Tell me… what is the most serious promise that somebody can make?"

Nick looked stumped for a second and then said

"Swearing on the River Styx.."

"Sticks?"

"S-T-Y-X"

"Oh right… that river that runs near the gates of the Underworld right?... Okay… here it goes… I solemnly swear on the River Styx that I will keep all your secrets for life and never divulge them to anybody even under threat of torture or death… is that fine?"

Nick looked completely taken aback at the quietly confident and peaceful expression on her face when she had said her oath… For a few seconds he was rendered speechless

"Do you know how serious that was?... Do you even understand what you just said?"

"All I know is that I needed a way to convince you of the fact that you can depend on me to keep your secret and swearing on the Styx is what was necessary to make you believe, so that is what I did…"

So saying, Macy turned back to Stella and rejoined the conversation with his brothers about pegasii as if nothing had happened. Nick stood there looking at them talking and laughing without any concerns or fears and wondered not for the first time, why he wasn't able to join them…. He turned and looked back at Macy, seeing her in a new light for the first time in his life… And the person he saw looking back at him was someone who had already made a special place for herself in the hearts of his best friend and his brothers… Someone he would quite like having as a friend. Smiling and shaking his head at his thoughts, Nick slowly went up the stairs, rubbing the dog-tag at his neck.

End of Chapter 6

A/N : plz plz review and make my day guys...


	7. Chapter 7

**_A/N : Hi guys!... So sorry for the long wait but i am back now and i promise to update all my running stories asap... And also look fwd to getting a lot more chapters sooner than you think... Here's one to tide you over for now... Thanks for all the support, reviews and comments... Keep reading and reviewing. :)_**

Oh and before i forget, this chap has Nick, Macy and a whole lot of the Bonus JONAS... My fav so far... :) :)

* * *

**Chapter 7 – Macy, Frankie and some Butt-kicking**

_**Saturday at the Firehouse Nick POV **_

It has been four days since Macy found out about our biggest secret. At first I was highly irritated at the prospect of a mortal knowing about us and the possibility of her accidentally revealing this information to somebody kept gnawing at my brain. After she swore on the Styx, my fear eased a bit but wasn't quite gone. I had had too many people promising things and not delivering on their promise to let a mortal girls' word start to cloud my judgment. A small voice kept whispering at the back of my mind that she knew exactly what she was saying when she swore on the Styx and that Macy would never break such a serious promise, but my cynical side had won out in the end and I was just waiting for her to trip up so that I could tell everybody 'I told you so' and be done with it… But four days running, nothing had happened… Not that I am getting ready to give up… I still don't believe that Macy has it in her to keep such a big secret… She might keep it for a week, a month or even a year but there's just no way she could keep a secret like that forever…. Gossiping and sharing secrets is like a ritual for girls and even though Macy isn't all girly like other girls, she is definitely a female. I tell myself that I am sticking around waiting for the bomb to drop so that I can be there for damage control and not for any other reason. But if I can stop lying to myself, I can see clearly that having someone to share the demigod secret with has been amazingly good for Stella as well as my brothers. Stella is much happier with another girl around to share her thoughts with and talk to whenever she feels like it and the boys are happy having someone to show off to… Not that Macy lets them show off all that much.

Like just this morning, we were having fun with target practice and had set the targets about 250 meters away… Shooting an arrow into a target that close is like child's play for a son of Apollo… Kevin and I were betting each other on shooting leaves and fruit off a tree about half a mile away and Joe was at the target range, trying to show off to the girls. I don't really know what Joe said but I think he said something disparaging either about girls or mortals in general… And you know Macy… the competitive side of her flared up and she yanked the bow out of Joe's hands and demanded that he hand over the quiver so that she could prove his sorry butt wrong… Attracted by the yelling, Kevin and I went over to find a seething Macy, a frantic Stella and a really scared looking Joe. Joe's silver bow was in Macy's hands where it had magically shrunken to fit her petite height and her right hand was extended towards Joe, silently demanding that he surrender his quiver. Kevin walked to them to try and pacify Macy while I, being the blockhead I am, stopped Kevin and said that if Macy wanted to prove that she was good she could and handed her my quiver. Biggest mistake ever committed in the history of the world. She turned that red hot glare on me and informed me in a harsh tone that she didn't like the way I had said those words and that I was always bossy and looking down my nose upon everyone as if I was better than everyone at everything. My face probably looked no better than Joe's when she was done with me. With that she turned and nocked an arrow onto the bow and took aim… After scarcely five seconds, an arrow was shot off Joe's bow and it ended up squarely in the middle of the bulls-eye of the target in front of her. I mean come on, as sons of Apollo, we could have shot off three different arrows in that time and each would've landed on point, on target, every time. But I really didn't expect Macy, sporty girl though she is, to be that good. As we were busy gathering our dropped jaws off the floor, she coolly handed me my quiver and Joe's bow, gathered all her stuff, waved to Stella and left.

_**Sunday afternoon at the Firehouse Macy POV**_

I had totally forgotten that Mrs. Lucas had called me and Stella over for lunch today. Mrs. Lucas had invited us almost a week back and it had completely slipped my mind until Stella had called, asking if I was still going after what had happened yesterday. I sighed and told her that although I was still a bit angry at Nick and Joe, I couldn't refuse Mrs. Lucas' invitation and that I would have to find ways to avoid the two of them today and everything would be alright. This conversation happened today morning and now it is afternoon and Stella and I just got to the Lucas firehouse. The door was opened by Nick (oh joy! That was sarcasm btw )… he was looking gorgeous as always and my inner-Macy was almost swooning but I roughly curtailed its excited squeak and gave him a non-committal smile, stepping into the house behind Stella. Nick looked mildly taken aback for a second before he shrugged and returned to the TV, where a recording of yesterday night's baseball game was playing. All the guys including Mr. Lucas were sitting in front of the TV, shouting encouragements and insults at the players. Stella and I said Hi to everyone and turned to go to the kitchen where Mrs. Lucas was when a small bundle of energy hit me with surprising force, almost toppling both of us over.

"Mmaaaccyyyyyy…." Came an excited shriek from somewhere near my middle as two small arms wrapped tightly around my waist

"Ooof… Hey Frankster!... How's my little superhero doing?"

"I missed you soooo much Macy… Why don't you come over that much nowadays?... I love hanging out with you…." Whined the youngest member of the Lucas household, holding tightly onto my middle.

I used to babysit Frankie for the Lucases when all of them had to go out for band related or probably demigod related reasons… I had been babysitting the Frankster for almost six to seven months before I had to stop because I needed to start concentrating on sports this year on if I wanted to get a football or softball scholarship for college. There was a sudden silence from the couch as the older Lucas brothers were looking at Frankie hugging me with varying degrees of astonishment…. I don't think they have ever seen Frankie show so much emotion at something that didn't involve hide and seek or money… Frankie didn't like me all that much in the beginning, but ever since I became the first person to catch him at hide and seek, I had become one of his favorite people in the world… The poor thing had never been caught before as everyone always forgot about him whenever they played the game with him. Since then, Frankie had become one of my best pals and there was a time when he even had a crush on me… I thought it was sweet but that had gone away when he discovered I couldn't cook to save my life. I became his best pal cum babysitter the day he discovered that I was quite competent when it came to playing video games… I have been careful not to kick his butt so many times that he loses interest but I beat him fair and square enough times to keep him involved and hungry for more…

I had to shout out a hello to Mrs. Lucas as Frankie dragged me up the stairs to the gaming console all the while chattering about this new game that he had gotten from his friend and how he was looking forward to beating me this time…. I smiled indulgently and went along, knowing that this was going to be my opportunity to avoid the members of JONAS for the most of my stay at the firehouse this afternoon. With my attention focused on the youngest Lucas, I failed to notice that the older ones had also followed us to the game room to investigate the goings on… As Frankie plugged in the console and turned it on, I took my place at the controller I usually used when I was over and fluffed the pillows in Frankie's chair just how he liked them. Settling down, we started playing the game, which happened to be the new racing game that had come out just days earlier… Chatting back and forth, egging each other on and laughing at each other when we left the other behind, Frankie and I had so much fun playing that we didn't notice the silent presence of his three older brothers behind us.

When I saw that we were coming up to the finish line, I eased up on the speed slightly so that Frankie could coast across the finish line a second ahead of me… This was a delicate operation and had to be done with finesse… If he found out that I was letting him win, he would get angry and throw a tantrum and if I had won, he would quickly lose interest and stop playing… So I had to make him believe he had won all on his own and that I had tried my best but failed to beat him. We still had no idea that we had an audience when Frankie did his patented victory dance while I clapped and laughed, happy for him…. It was only when Mrs. Lucas shouted from downstairs, calling all of us to lunch that we turned and found ourselves looking at one happy and two astonished teenagers… Kevin happily gave Frankie a high five while winking at me signifying that he knew I had let his younger brother win and gave him a piggyback ride down the fireman's pole… I was left behind with the two people I had hoped to avoid through the day… but on the bright side, they had been rendered more or less speechless so I had no trouble slipping past them and walking up to the other pole. As I was getting ready to slide down to the living room, Joe and Nick woke from their bout of speechlessness and started heaping questions on my head

"Since when have you been such good friends with Frankie?..."

"Yeah… how come we don't know this?"

"Why is Frankie behaving so weirdly around you?"

"And why did you let him win?.. You could've won easily and you just let him take it…"

I sighed and turned to face the boys

"Well.. Answering your questions in order… Frankie and I became friends about six months back when I caught him in hide and seek while I was babysitting him for your mom… You don't know this because you guys are always busy with your band or some demigod stuff…. Frankie isn't behaving weirdly towards me… He's just normal around me most of the time… And I let him win but don't tell him that cuz I don't want him to get disappointed or lose interest in the new game that he was so excited about…." I said looking between Joe and Nick…

"If that's all… I would really like to go downstairs and have some lunch right now…" I hugged the pole and slid out of view, congratulating myself at the good job I had done of not freaking out in front of Nick.

Some time later…

"Wow…Mrs. Lucas…That was an amazing lunch… You… are an awesome cook…. I don't think I'll be able to eat anything else for the rest of the week…" I groaned while several heads as the table nodded in agreement. Mrs. Lucas laughed and thanked me for the compliment. After lunch, Stella and Joe went off to fix that Stellavator (patent pending) that Joe had broken… yet again. We could hear her screaming at Joe and hitting him with anything she got right down in the kitchen where I was helping Mrs. Lucas clean up. She looked at me and winced when a particularly loud 'bonk' sounded from upstairs and I couldn't have controlled the giggle that erupted if my life depended on it. I was still giggling when Stella came downstairs accompanied by a subdued Joe who was rubbing the back of his head as if it still hurt…

"Soooo… I guess you both heard all of that huh?..." asked Stella in an ashamed tone

"Yes honey…. All of it… Even the sound of whatever hit Joe on the head…" said Mrs. Lucas drily as I was still giggling and couldn't talk. Joe gave Stella a dirty look at that and stalked off to the refrigerator to find some ice for it.

Stella smiled awkwardly and said " I guess I should apologize for that huh?... I will go do that now…" she almost ran out, red in the face and dragging a protesting Joe with her. Mrs. Lucas burst into laughter the second they were out of view and that got me going again… We were both still giggling our faces off when Mr. Lucas came in to get some ice cream a few minutes later. He looked at us weirdly but didn't ask us anything, figuring that he wouldn't get a coherent response from two insane women and left with the ice cream safely held in his hands. Mrs. Lucas was very easy to talk with and we had a good time chatting about this and that as we cleaned up in the kitchen.

Two hours later, I had kicked Kevin's butt at Guitar hero once(beginner's luck I guess…), he had royally beaten me several times… We both let Frankie win once at the newest edition of Need for Speed and were all lying on the couch completely tired out… Nick had been holed up with his dad discussing and finalizing their upcoming tour and concert line up. Mrs. Lucas had gone to the local nursery to get some new plants and seeds for her kitchen garden and Joe and Stella were still arguing about some of the clothes that the boys were supposed to wear on an upcoming interview. I was just getting up to ask Stella if we could leave when all the boys' watches beeped. This caused a wide range of reactions from all of them, mostly consisting of groans from Kevin, quiet muttering of what sounded like ancient Greek curses from Nick and outright horror and denial from Joe who was frantically searching for a place to hide.

"Come on guys… time for training…." Nick called from the door to the basement to both of his older brothers though he himself didn't look all that enthusiastic

With exaggerated groans and moaning, the two older Lucases followed their younger brother down the stairs to the basement.

"Hey guys…. Can we come too?... We kinda have nothing to do now… Frankie is asleep and your dad is busy planning the tour… Plus I think it's high time I get some training in… I haven't trained in a loooong time…" asked Stella from her place on the couch.

After looking at each other and shrugging, Joe and Kevin nodded at us and motioned for us to follow them. Stella had already been to the training center before but this was going to be my first time and I had no idea what to expect. I don't know what my brain had thought it would be like but I can tell you quite truthfully I could've never imagined _this_. The gym and training center took up the entire basement of the house and let me tell you, the firehouse is quite big…. The gym looked like something out of a fitness magazine and had all the equipment one might ever need in their lifetime but that was not the area that caught my attention. I knew that the guys trained with a lot of weapons… I had seen the sword and bows already but I had never expected to find such an array of gleaming bronze weaponry in anybody's basement.

Name any weapon from ancient Greece that you can think of and you could probably find it there… There were also some oriental weapons like a beautiful katana I was looking at in front of me. All in all, the weapons wall looked like something out of the ancient Greek exhibit in the museum, except this was in my friends' house and all the weapons were gleaming and in awesome condition. I was fascinated by all the beautiful carving and detail work on the hilts and handles of the swords and axes and went to touch them when I discovered something that made me gasp out loud. I could touch the carved hilt or handle of any weapon but not the blades. My hand just went past the gleaming bronze blades as if they were made of smoke and all I could touch was the felt of the backboard. Laughing at my perplexed expression, Kevin explained that the blades were all made of celestial bronze, an alloy that was lethal to monsters and demigods alike but passed through mortals like they weren't there. It didn't make me feel any better when I found out that the blade passed through mortals because they weren't important enough for it to harm…. Talk about chauvinism...

Nick turned with his sword in his hands and asked

"Hey guys… who's gonna go up against me first?..."

Both Joe and Kevin groaned out loud at that but didn't answer

"Come on guys… I haven't got all day here…. Who's going up against me?..."

It looked like there was a silent argument going on between Kevin and his younger brother as to who would go up against Nick first… As the silence lengthened, I blurted out

"If you don't mind, I'd like to give it a try…" and instantly regretted saying that

Four faces turned to face me with a variety of expressions on them. Stella looked curious from where she was straightening her armor and Kevin and Joe looked sad… As if they knew something I didn't and Nick looked quite angry and forbidding. That cemented my decision and repeated that I wouldn't mind giving it a turn, while trying to maintain an innocent expression on my face. Kevin and Joe tried to convince me to give up on the idea as Nick was the best swordsman of the lot and he took every flight seriously and might hurt me. Nick stood in his place smirking at me, waiting for me to give in to their persuasion. It made me even angrier and I turned a glare onto the guys that effectively turned off their arguments mid-word. I went to the sword rack and tried on different swords, trying to get a feel for each one of them… I had tried about a dozen of them and none felt right in my hands till I found _it_… It was a slightly shorter sword, only about two and a half feet long but it had a beautifully carved hilt and a straight, balanced blade that felt perfect in my hands. Turning with my chosen sword in my hands, I advanced onto the mat where Nick seemed to be bored waiting for me. Bowing as per regulations, I took my stance. A glint of interest kindled in Nick's eye as he figured out that I wasn't a complete novice at this.

And then it started… I didn't know he was this good…. I might've thought twice about this if I had known that Nick was such a good swordsman. But I was no less… After all I had been the National Champ in fencing at my previous school… And fencing isn't all that different from sword-fighting. I knew I could take him down five minutes into the fight… He was very good, but still not perfect… There were holes in his defense that I could take advantage of when the moment came. We had been slashing, thrusting our swords, parrying and barely jumping out of the way of each other's attacks for about fifteen minutes now… Both of us were tiring but neither was ready to give up. In fact it made me want to beat him even more. We circled each other, gauging the other person's frame of mind as if we were gladiators from a different age and suddenly, we were back at it, crossing blades, trying to disarm each other. Even though I knew that his blade would pass right through me, I didn't let it come near me once. I needed to win this fair and square if it was to count. If I let the blade beneath my guard, I would consider it a loss. Thrust after thrust, parry after parry, it felt like we were the only two people in the world at that point of time and that nothing else mattered. We were almost circling, jumping and rolling around on the whole of the mat. Both of us were nearing exhaustion when I found a loophole in his defense and decided it was high time to use it and end this. When his guard was down for a split second, I thrust my blade in halfway, twisted it around and pushed down with the hilt of my sword, making Nick loose the grip on his sword. It tumbled down where it landed right into my waiting left hand and a second later I had both his and my swords pointed at his throat.

Hearing applause and cheers brought us back to the real world and I turned to find Stella and the boys cheering and clapping for us. I raised my sword, gave a mock bow to the audience and handed back Nick's sword to him, hilt first. He smiled his rare half smile and took the sword from me and handed me a towel and a bottle of water in return. As soon as I had put my sword back in its position on the rack and Nick's had turned back into a dog tag, we were both sprawled out on the carpet with the others sitting around us. I was pulling strands of my sweat drenched hair from my face and neck, trying to wipe my face when Stella pulled me into a hug, squealing

"I knew it… I knew that having a national fencing champ as a best friend would come in handy someday… Still… Wow… Even I had no idea that you were that good Mace…. That was just awesome…"

Kevin and Joe were still cheering for me because I had done something they hadn't been able to do and now Nick couldn't call himself the undisputed king of the mat… All this praise was making me blush. As the color swept onto my cheeks I noticed Nick looking at me strangely. I silently frowned at him asking what the matter was

"Nothing… Fencing champ huh?... How come none of us knew?..."

"I don't like to advertise it… And fencing never came up in the conversation before… There are a lot of things you don't know about me…" I grinned cheekily

"Really?... So... What else is there that I need to know?..."

"Uh..Uh… Not telling… I am not giving away everything all at once… I can kick your butt in a whole lot of things Lucas… Just because I don't or haven't… Doesn't mean I can't…." I replied, smiling lazily

"I wanna learn that disarming maneuver that you used on me… I've seen it being used before but never learnt how to do it…"

"Sure… I'll teach it to you… Some other time though… It's getting late now and I gotta run…Come on Stella… We gotta get going… or my mom's gonna give me hell…" I hurried up, setting my towel and bottle down on the bench. I pulled Stella up and both of us raced up the steps, yelling our goodbyes to the guys who were still sprawled out on the carpet and making no efforts to get up.

End of Chapter 7

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A/N : Review if you liked it ppl... On second thought review even if you didn't and help me make it better. Expect a lot of the cast of PJO from the next chapter onwards.


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